Hey guys -
What's up?
As your local Defender of the People (a title that allows me to edit your posts at will) I'd like to get some input from you! Unedited!
What sort of things would you like to see more of in the Community? I do the I'm Alive each month, Post a Paragraph, Whoring, and all the general questions/advice our members are interested in. Sometimes we do a picture thread. Is there something more you'd like to see in here?
The goal is to make this a community in the true sense of the word. And like any community, it is what you make it.
I've done writing competitions before - would we be interested in seeing that sort of thing again?
Feel free to pitch any ideas you might have for cool things you'd like to see in the community. What would make you participate, interact, and otherwise be content here within these internet walls.
If you give me lots of great feedback, I'll tell you all about the dream I had about a member of Team LitReactor the other day!
1. Well, I think WAR is bound to be mentioned a lot. It's definitely been on my mind. I'd be willing to help out as much as possible to get something going.
2. I know we have a "post a paragraph" thread, how about a thread where people talk about their current projects (genre, a bit about it, goals, markets they're considering, and maybe a paragraph too). Like a "Post a Paragraph" on steroids.
I'm in an online community that has a workplace theme, and one of our most active threads is always "The Breakroom," which is essentially a chat room. It's kind of an anything-goes thread that someone starts at the beginning of each week. At any time, you can go in there, make a joke about people getting out of the way of the beer tap (don't tell the boss it's hidden under the sink!), laugh at a funny .gif someone posted, and make a joke at the expense of someone's mother. I know we have the General Discussion category, but there's just something about cutting through the red tape of starting your own thread that makes it easier to just get in, drop an informal post, and get out. Like you can just get in there and say, "I like turtles." Totally acceptable. Whatever.
Beyond that, people want to talk about their own work, so I'm with Sound on a place where people can come and just riff about what's going on in their head, get knee-jerk responses, etc. That would be awesome. I mean, that can be SO helpful sometimes. Plus it's fun just to see what ideas people are working on and to be able to, maybe, throw back something that helps.
I'd just like to see more discussion on the existing topics in general. We've got an enormous community, but it seems to've died way down. The "Participated" tab is my LR bookmark, but the only thread that consistently has new posts is Whoring. I post in a thread and it dies. Threadkiller.
The book club threads especially should have waaaaay more discussion than they're getting, which is shocking to me, given that this is a reading/writing community. Attaboys are nice, but actually patronizing and discussing members' work is important. Outisde of the workshop, I mean.
So yeah, I'm with Gordon on the more discussion in general, I think we have a lot of good threads (I'm alive, post a paragraph, thunderdome, book club, film club, thoughts on the book you are currently reading, word association game, 2 truths 1lie) but everything just dies off.
Competitions are great, you only have to whisper the word war and this place will be flooded. I wish they'd be a bit more enthusiasm for thunderdome and I'd love to have flash me back.
I also think sound idea of a current project thread is good.
Battle for last post kind of covers the say any random thing thread.
I think it's great to see this discussion starting.
Here's a question: Why hasn't there been an article highlighting the National Book Award longlist? Even better, why hasn't there been an article talking about whether it's a decent list or not? The scandalous exclusions? The predictable choices? Has there been an article about the Man Booker changing their rules to allow inlcusion of American writers? Talk about buzz worthy.
But buzz worthy in certain circles that really aren't (yet?) part of Lit Reactor.
In general, doesn't Lit Reactor tilt younger with its overall demographics? It's effort is to appear a bit more edgy than other blogs, does it not? For example, there's a recent blog post alleging Franzen may be a bit of a twat. I can imagine certain readers enjoying the headline and reading the post. But I can imagine others who would move on without hesitation.
I bring the age thing up because it's my experience that millenials and those like-minded are a zillion places all at once, all the time, and there are only so many hours out of the day. They'll get what they need and move on to their next project or discussion wherever that may be, without feeling any overwhelming sense of loyalty to one online community or another. There's a lot of competition, and I think LR should pat itself on the back for carving out its own sizable niche.
If I had one suggestion, it would be to expand the idea of what's a publishable article on Lit Reactor. I think there are many, many great articles, but so many are focused on pop culture, comics, movies, genre writers. That's only going to appeal to some people.
BTW, a recent favorite article of mine is Robbie Blair's article on writers and depression.
Expand the Lit Reactor brand. There exists a dearth of writers here beyond those who embrace science fiction, horror, noir, fantasy, transgressive tropes. Write to attract different thinkers and writers. A Web site can't survive on Chuck and Craig readers and writers alone.
I'd like to see a chat room for workshop members where people could convene in an online, real-time writer's critique group. While that may not add to the Community forum per se, it may increase user engagement in general, which, as they say, 'couldn't hoit'! I know chatrooms have been brought up before... but still. Just giveme stuff that I ask for.
Also, I would say the times of greatest user engagement are when there is a nice juicy falme war going on. Cath Murphy comes in here and posts inflammatory things, but they're always too bloody literary, and it's not like Franzen's going to come in here and argue his point while using hilarious animated gifs. That would be fun though.
JGB -- I remember back in the old days of LitReactor (hahaha, because it's what? Two years old now? Not quite?) they tried a chat room and tried to schedule workshop chats and it never really went anywhere. Not saying that it COULDN'T, now that the community is larger, but at the time it died out really fast.
I'm more of a lurker rather than anything resembling a major contributor. I do pop online a few times a day, and inevitably find myself checking out the Litreactor community. Having discovered the site through Teleport Us, I'd say writing competitions would definitely be something I'd participate in. Beyond Thunderdome is great, I'm waiting for a gap in my writing to tackle that, though participation in terms of voting is a bit disappointing. The Game of Threes is great fun, though again hampered by severe lack of participation.
I'm Alive, picture threads, post a paragraph are all good, and I'll always check those out.
I like the idea of getting some debates on here. That might spark a little more interest.
Sound's idea of discussing ongoing projects sounds like a winner to me as well.
Let's do more Whoring.
Sorry, I just couldn't cope with the fact that no one had said it yet.
Got that out of my system now.
I like MES's idea of more Lit stuff. Maybe a Lit World Shizzle forum category, with threads about book awards' longlists and shortlists, scandalous inclusions and exclusions, banned books, and stuff. Juicy.
I like the chat, too. Or even a LitReactor Community twitter account where members could speed-share buzz to be discussed in the forum. In yo' face, Mr. Franzen.
Ongoing projects I don't know. Writers can get very secretive about their doings, but if we can find a way around that, then awesome.
Maybe replace the Teleport section, which is way over, with some of the sticky/recent thread stuff on the front page.
I enjoy the forums here. They are a bit slow, at times, but there's great content and good folks.
I use the Whoring thread a lot--it's a great source for reading material and genre markets, and shows that there's a healthy amount of writing and submitting going on.
The book discussions could use more love--but I've found that every book discussion group I've ever encountered goes through ups and downs in activity. Is there voting done on what to read? How is it selected?
I love the idea of a thread to talk about current projects and bounce ideas off each other. Like a proto-workshop for ideas.
I'd love to see the workshop whoring thread get more use. There seems to be a wall between the workshop and the forums--I don't see a lot of workshop regulars in the forums and vice versa.
I've noticed that the LR homepage doesn't advertise the forums--there are the classes, the magazine articles, the essays, a selection from the workshop, and an add for Teleport Us. It's possible that newer members who aren't as gung-ho about clicking all the things don't realize what's behind that "community" tab.
Just a collection of my thoughts.
I like the new thing Litreactor is doing in the workshop, choosing a story each month to publish. I have not submitted anything because I don't have a new story ready, but I think this is a good way to encourage people to use the workshop. I like post a paragraph, but I'm not sure many people are reading everyone's paragraphs. I do like writing competitions, but I know they require a lot of work for the administrators. I like them because they give you a specific topic to work with, and you know your story will be read and commented on. WAR is the time when more people seem interested in the site. I like the whoring thread and tend to get good info from that discussion. You do a great job Avery.
Maybe a little like it's fucking crickets around here?
"So weird. Almost like people got lives or decided to write or something"
I'm particularly caustic lately, so don't mind me. Which is why I've been absent. Also because of that other social media site, which has an app for my phone.
For when there's no internet.
I digress.
I declare this day that I will turn over a new leaf.
I will get involved. Post memes. Make friends. Make love. Make war. Ridicule Dwayne. All that horseshit I used to do.
So, to make a meaningful contribution to this effort; a chat room would be great. Not some lamedick 1980's IRC room, either. Although many a good time was had there, and friends and memories made.
I'd like to see interaction. Interaction beyond networking, whoring, etc. I want to know (insert user name here) as a writer, but also the person behind the writer (or is it the writer behind the person?). FB is a little too personal, in some ways, we need to be able to build professional relationships beyond post/ (wait for)reply interaction. Maybe this is not the venue for that. I dont know, I'm just a user.
The people who ended up mattering to me the most, were the ones I was able to communicate with in real time. It's relationship building. So when one of those folks posted on the boards, I wanted to answer. I wanted to participate with them.
But how to accomplish this? Historically, War, and other open competitions bring us together and offer a venue and topic(s) to discuss. In the interim we seem to go back to our lives or writing until the next thing comes around. Until the next excuse to interact and participate.
I particularly like the Community Spotlight. We need more of this.
More opportunities to be involved, maybe?
Are we speaking about Lit the site, or Lit the message boards? I got pretty disenfranchised after some of the Team Lit goings on. I don't care to expand further on that. There seems to be a great big disconnect between the Lit staff and Lit members.
Whatever. Going down memory lane and seeing what was going on last year, and before that, I don't know what changed. People come and people go. People go and come back. Sometimes.
Is Chester Pane okay?
It is a bit of crickets lately. Which makes sense. The better we know each other the less we use the site. Why have a forum posts discussion with someone you just talked to on video chat?
Plus, we are used to each other. Those of use who didn't click well tolerate each other better, "Oh that is just how X is." Those of us who did have formed smaller clicks that may like each other but don't really have the kick in the pants kind of raw inspiration when they first formed.
And there have been disappointments. People's feelings get hurt, people get put off by the way the see others interact even if everyone is just joking, people get banned, and people just move on. I know a few of the folks I was really cheering for, ones whose work I read in the workshop without any comment because I was in fan mode, just disappeared. It wasn't heart breaking, but still sad in a distant way.
I'd like some non competitive ways to get involved. The whole win/lose thing never really attracted me (I am pretty sure I didn't take part in any of the site contests or War) since it just gets me writing. Practice and motivation are great, but I crave something I literally can't do by myself or at the very least I'd never think of. Maybe a collaboration? I have a few ideas, but they all feel really impractical.
We could have semi-regular Google Hangouts, and get those webcams fired up. Up to 10 people at a time. The tricky part would be getting invites sent to those people; maybe they join a Circle/community thing to make that easier. I participate in them frequently, but am not sure the best way to manage that. You can also put them "On Air" and embed it live on a web page.
I like that idea Gordon. I downloaded that app but haven't messed with it yet.
I mean, we could use Skype or one of the alternative platforms, I just figured most people already have a Google account, so it would be easier to get them on board that way, plus it allows you to share in other ways. And works on tablets and smartphones. Maybe we could feature some interview/conversations with people, etc. There's a new "Live Q&A" feature that lets you take questions from anyone who's watching, not just those invited, and can timestamp them in the stream for replay. Neat stuff.
"Are we speaking about Lit the site, or Lit the message boards?"
I'm speaking just of the message boards, because that's sort of my relm. I'm not here on assignment or anything, just thought I'd kick the ball around a bit and see how we could get people friendly again. I feel like no one wants to be friends.
Also - totally can't believe Dave called me out. Good job.
So here is my thoughts on this place. It's a cool place to walk into a few times a week, say some witty things and then move along to other projects. Let's be honest, we're all very busy. And I admit that lately whenI do my scrollthrough, I see a lot of "don't care" threads that I pass by. And it makes me a little sad. The site does hold a special place in my heart for several reasons.
I'd like us to be able to find the happy medium where people coem in, blow off steam, make friends, and can still leave here and be productive. Also, I hope we can accomplish that without fighting with people. Although I usually like debate...but I get all huffy about it sometimes. You know...whateves. I feel like when people started coming in and picking fights everyday, that's when we started jumping ship.
I'm not much on collaboration projects, but if anyone is interested in that, talk to Dwayne, apparently.
On the articles that LR posts, well, I cna't do anything about that. But there is nothing to stop us from posting them as topics here in the community for discussion. If you see something cool, feel free to start a new thread. I'd encourage it!
Also, I don't like using LR on the weekends. That's my "me time" away from the internet. So that could be when I miss a lot of people/topics.
Is that when you are legally bared from here or something?
No. I just prefer to be with my loved ones in real life, as opposed to on the computer.
I like what Dave said aboutv getting to know someone a little. You want to respond to posts by someone you already connected with. My first postings in the workshops sucked, and I'm okay with that. I learned a lot and felt some friendship with the people who gave reviews that helped my craft. So more work shopping can foster good things. also, war fosters friendships and knowledge of other's writing skills. Everyone Ive been on a WAR against, I've come to know better and like. Richard was especially kind to me in my first war against him. I met others that way too. There Re a lot of writing sites out there now. lots of classes offered. We need to keep the site as active as possible because there is competition.
.
@avery
coem(sic) in, blow off steam, make friends, and can still leave here and be productive:
Yeah, that's exactly what Lit was, and why most of us here are still here. I would guess anyway. But, like you said
I see a lot of "don't care" threads that I pass by
Tru Dat. But I've decided to get off my high horse. Make time for people, because that's what I stopped doing, is making time for the people who posted, regardless of whether I cared or not. I choose to care again. It takes effort to maintain relationships, even on the interwebs *gasp!
Let's all make a commitment to ourselves and each other, to give a minute or two of our time whenever possible, pay it forward, all that happy touchy stuff.
And last but not least, this
If you see something cool, feel free to start a new thread
For the love of God, yes. I'm probably the most guilty of this, of *not posting new threads, mostly because I'm online overnight, in general, and crave immediate response (coughCHATcough). If I want to fire and forget I throw it out to FB land and can count on replies, or even get them right away, whereas here, can be hit or miss.
(Did I mention I think a chat would be killer?)
Like the Harley Quinn talent call, I nearly gave myself an anuerism I wanted to talk about that soFRIGGINbad. No replies to my comment on the article, granted it was several days after the fact. But, I talked myself out of bringing it here because I figured it was yesterdays (or last weeks) news and people had moved on.
My bad, yo.
@Cove: Fuck other sites. And the fuckers that use them.
There can be only one.
Except maybe the Velvet, they're cool.
But this is Sparta.
I can honestly say I've read some truly amazing things from people here, and made friends in the truest sense of the word. I've been to the other places. They've got koolaid, yeah, but ours is better.
Don't get in Troy's bucket. For real.
You make good points. I've got a ton of workshop points, but I'm too lazy to workshop anything. Okay, maybe it's not lazy, but I can still see where my stuff needs work, so I would rather wait until I've got it as good as I can get it before throwing it out to y'all. Perhaps I should rethink this. Rely on a little help from my friends, as it were. Get by on a little help from my friends.
Come on people, now, smile on your brother.
I'd like a competition please. I like the competing, I like the trash talk, i like the comraderie, i like the winning and the losing. It helps me write.
Where even has everyone gone to?
Yeah, I guess the bottom line is that what the community really needs is participation.
Hopefully this thread will help kick start it some.
Guys. Guys. We are fucking writers.
“All writers are vain, selfish and lazy, and at the very bottom of their motives lies a mystery. Writing a book is a long, exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some painful illness. One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven by some demon whom one can neither resist nor understand.” - G.Orwell
and this:
http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2012/02/07/25-reasons-that-writers-are-bug-fuck-nuts/
specially this:
24. WE HANG OUT WITH OTHER WRITERSCrazy people hanging out with other crazy people just creates a crazy people feedback loop where the crazy recirculates again and again like a bad stink in an old car. Crazy begets crazy begets crazy.
And the one about the mony.
I still think an UnOfficial twitter account could spin some fresh internal crazy without being so much of a commitment. Just a roundabout of crazy, like.
I can't admin it, though. Not alone, at least.
I like the ideas of UnOfficial outlets. Lets explore this.
I like the idea of having a WIP thread. Not really a Post A Paragraph thread, but more of a 'I'm working on this idea.' Some peeps may be a little shy about sharing their ideas, but they could control that by being vague, or not posting at all. Ideas and titles are not protected, though I must admit I covet my titles simply because I spent a lot of time working on them and they are mine.
Mine!
And as much as someone might say, 'You stole my idea!', yeah...not really. I could give you all a detailed outline of an idea and set you free and the stories would be as different as fingerprints. Eventually someone might hit upon the same slant within a thousand stories, but it would still be different. The thread could serve as a wall to bounce ideas off, let others chime in about what you're thinking, but the focus would be to actually work on the idea and not spend all your time in here hitting refresh to see what others say about it.
It's your idea, claim it, bounce it, and write that fucker.
Too poor to join the workshop, would also like another competition of some sort to write more and have feedback.
For me I'm too busy with small kids and work to participate much here but I really enjoyed Teleport Us. And I'm anxiously awaiting the next one but don't expect it for a while. I'd like to see more of that type of stuff but if it's something where I'd have to keep track of what's going on daily I'm out.
yay UnOfficial!
Would a competition come up right now, I'm not sure I could join it cause I'm still having a busy time tweaking and editing all past submissions. Unless..
Unless it's an all-flash (max 100 words) WAR!!!
BOOM THAT!!!
HEADSHOT!!!
EDIT: oh ye, and I completely agree with Bob, ideas will always be developed differently by different pens. Still, writing for me is a bit like pooping. I need a closed door but not locked, external noises assuring me the world is going on, and now mind your business cause I'm pooping.
^ writing is like pooping, I like that :)
Thanks @voodoo. I could further unpack the analogy..
.. but nah..
Competitions:
If we had a couple mini-fights would there be interest in that? For example...ten people all get one prompt and do a write-off. Then its all put into one poll. One shot. Winner takes all. (All being nothing except glory) Would that be fun for anyone?
I think the best way to do it would be to have a sign up sheet for a week. Then I would put all the entrants into a hat and draw to see who makes it in. But you can't tell anyone if you make it or not. That way it's completely anonymous, you don't know who you are writing against (no strategy but good writing) and you can make comments on other stories without busting the rule of anonymity.
Anyone like that idea?
ME ME ME!!!
Great idea.
Also I think you should probably set the word limit to 1,000 or 1,200 because at the moment people aren't to enthusiastic about reading stuff.
I would make reading a requirement for entry, but there would be maybe 2-3 weeks to read and vote.
Oh well, that changes things then, you could stretch the stories a bit longer. Also I was thinking that, depending on how many readers this generates, you might have to make a rule of no voting for your own story (sort of like with the big and scary poll in War) and yeah that does mean some stories may get no votes (which is always sucktacular) but it also means there is more chance of an outright winner rather than everyone with a few scattered votes.
Thoughts?
I already have that one written down....here are the rules that I am speculating on:
BATTLE: The (Un)Official LitReactor Brawl
How it works:
You sign up. After a week, I’ll randomly pick ten people to participate. Those people will write to a prompt and submit their stories anonymously. I will post a poll and everyone will have 3 weeks to read, respond to, and critique the stories. Winner is the one with the most votes.
RULES:
You can’t reveal if you are selected to write.
You can’t reveal if you are NOT selected to write. Anyone who does this will be eliminated from this and all other Battles.
You must read every story
You must make a comment about every story
You must vote
You CAN’T vote for your own story
Failure to do any of these things means you lose. I will remove you story and any votes it received will go to me.
You MUST have a LitReactor membership to participate. You will only need it for one month, long enough to read the stories and vote.
Any thoughts on that? This is un-(Un)Official right now...just seeing what people think.
Yeah sounds good, I do wonder how well the critiques will go, if your one of the selected writers and you have to critique your own work (mind you by that point, after it's too late, writers usually see loads of issues with their work so could be it'll be easy to do) but on the other hand I think it's a great addition that the writers can get feedback. As long as it's productive and not just snarky.
I like this idea. I'd participate.
Love it! I'd certainly throw my name in the hat. Or is it more of a Goblet of Fire?
If you are asking if one of you will die in the end, then yes.
How titillating. Count me in. :)
Yeah, this seems like a good idea to me. So...I'm gonna do a sign up in a new thread.
Next topic to improve the community!
A BRAWL??? What a fantastic idea. I also like that there will be feedback.
I just hope I won't be working my ass off by the time it starts, cause my life is unpredictable like that.
But then again, we can make it an endless succession of fights, can't we?
HERE is where you can sign up. It's a Sticky
And yeah, this is something I can easily do every couple of months without it ruining my life.
i think it's a great idea. the only forseeable problem is that the people who don't get drawn for the first brawl, but enter their names. Read all the stories and give their oppinions, I assume when the second brawl came arround they may move up on the list. Or maybe the ten previous writers don't go into the drawing, assuming their are atleast ten more who want to brawl. I just imagine that maybe some of the people who already wrote, and know they won't be drawn again, won't bother to read and help the second group. I'd like to think most would. But you know how war was. Round one stories got over 50 votes. The last round was lucky to see 15.
I think one of the problems with lack of participation in WAR (at least the last one, since that was the only one I've done) was the volume and timing. The middle and late rounds were right around the holidays, and there were just so many god damn stories to read. You kind of get burned out. I remember we ended up having some delays for the holidays, which was helpful, but stretched out the length more. Me personally, I know that by some of the later flash rounds I was in it was hard enough to get something written much less have time to read and vote on everyone's stories. I think limiting the participants in this brawl will really help in that regard. At the same time, I'm sure there's plenty of bitterness and spite that goes into people not voting too, but fuck those people.
